Head motion for looms



Nov. 12, 1935. w. M. wATTlE 2,920,445

HEAD MOTION FOR LooMs y Filed July 19, 1934 Patented Nov. 12, 1935 PATENT OFFICE 2,029,445 HEAD MOTION lFOR LOOMsV William M. Wattie, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 19, 1934, serial No. 736,065

4 claims.V (C1. 19a-'m This invention relates to improvements in head motions for looms, more particularly the socalled Knowles head, and it is the general object of the invention to provide improved means for withstanding the-horizontal strains of the vibrator levers in a head of large capacity.

The Knowles head operates with two oppositely rotating mutilated driving cylinder gears between which move a set of vibrator gears pivoted to vibrator levers and positioned by pattern mechanism to Yhave driving relation with one or the other of the cylinders. The vibrator gears are attached to connectors which in turn rock levers connected to the harnesses or boxes. The vibrator gears are driven by a force Vderived from the cylinders, but they are heldin place to receive this force by the vibrator levers which must be held against longitudinal or horizontal motion to- Vvward and from the gears to correctly position the vibrator gears.

The outer end of each vibrator lever is provided with an open slot bearing which lts over a stationary heel pin. In order to hold the bearing in proper vertical position with respect to the heel pin a so-called shell or cap is used. An early form ofcap'is shown in patent to Knowles No. 134,992, the cap in that instance having contact with a large part of the rounded outer end of the vibrator lever. At a later time the contact between the shell and lever was reduced as shown in McGuiness Patent No. 865,264 'where a rib on thesunder side of the shell contacts with a surface on the end of the vibrator lever concentric with the heel pinaxis. The patent to Unwin 1,739,189 shows the form of heel pin used in recent years in which the vibrator lever itself is provided with a small boss having a surface ground concentric with the heel pin axis and engaging the under side of the shell, Y 1

So far. as I am'aware the only connection between lthe shell andthe heel pin which would operate to restrain motion of the vibratorrlevers are the structures shown in the aforesaid patents, that is, a part` of the lever itself is oonned between the shell and pin to resist vertical motion,

The strains in the vibrator levers incident to lifting the harnesses or shuttle boxes, however, are all in a horizontal ,directionV and previous constructions have been such as to require the heel pin towithstand all of these strains; It is an important object of my present invention to provide means for coupling the shell to the pin in such a way that the horizontal strains imposed upon the vpin can be sharedrwith the shellV and the` combinedresistance of the shell and pin can be used to prevent deflection of the latter. This connection may take the form of a block fitting snugly around theheel pin and having surfaces to fit closely vthe inner surface of the shell.

As heretofore constructed the shell has been 5 made of cast .iron molded to a parti-cylindrical form. It is aV further object of my present invention to make the heel shell of 'angle iron or steel and dispose the shell so that one of the webs of the anglel willresist bending or flexing in a l0 horizontal plane.

With these and other objects in viewl which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination'and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the l5 claims. 'Y i Y In the accompanying drawing, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig.' 1 is a top'plan view of a Knowleshead having my invention applied thereto,

' Fig'. 2 is a vertical sectionlon line 2--2 of Fig. 1, Fig.V 3 i'sanV enlarged vertical section on line 3 3, Fig'. 1, with the heel pin removed, 1

Fig. 4. is a diagrammaticY View showing the Knowles head with harness connections and 1ndicating how my present invention will resist bending of the heel pin, and

Fig'. 5 is a detail end elevation `of the heel shell', in the direction of arrow 5, Fig. 1.

Referring toV Fig. 4, I have designated the Knowles head generally at K and have shown diagrammatically a jack harness lever Il] pivoted at l l and having attachment with a flexible con# hector' l2 trainedraround Vappropriate sheaves to move a harnessV frame t3. The latter has a thread eye I4 through which one of the warp` threads W of' the loom passes. The reed l5 beats up the filling to make cloth vC which passes over the breast beam I6, and the warp is guided over the whip roll ll. It is to be understood that the operation lof the loom requires that the warp threads be separated as shown in Fig. 4, some of them being in the top shed following along line a; while others are in the lower shed following along line b. I have shown but one vibrator lever and harness connection in the diagrammatic view, and the parts are in Asuch position as to move the warps to the top shed'along line a.

As shown more particularly in Figs. l and 2 the loom arch 29 supports a pair of side plates 2l and 50 l 22 which support top and bottom shafts 23 on which are mounted the mutilated top and bottom cylinders 24 and 25, respectivelyj A pattern cylinder 2971's also journaled in the head frame and serves to feedV the pattern'chain P, indicated in 55' Fig. 4, which determines the sequence in which the harnesses and boxes move.

A set of vibrator levers 30 are provided, each lever having an inner end 3| guided by a comb 32 and arranged to cooperate with a knife 33 which periodically locks the vibrator lever against improper vertical motion. The outer end of each vibrator lever is provided with a downwardly facing open bearing 35 the top of which is semicylindrical to nt over a xed heel pin 36. The latter extends between the frames 2| and 22 and may be held in place by screws 31. A guide comb 38 fastened to the head frame positions the outer ends of the vibrator levers.

Each vibrator lever has rotatably mounted thereon a vibrator gear 4|] which has two sets ofV teeth separated by blank spaces, and each gear is pivotally attached to a connector 4| which has driving relation with the harness jack I0. An arcuate slot 42 in the gear receives a stop stud 43 carried by the lever 30.

By means of the parts shown in Figs. l and 2 the connector 4| can be moved to the right from the position shown in Fig. 2, or if in the right hand position can be moved tothe left either to depress or raise the harness frame l1. The mutilated gears turn continuously and are operatively related to the vibrator gears turning the latter in one or the other direction in well-known manner.

An inspection of Figs. 2 and 4 will show that when the pivotal connection 45 between the vibrator gear and connector 4| is in the left hand position, as shown in Fig. 2, the warp will lie along the upwardly inclined line a and will exert a downward strain on the jack pin, the effect of which is to tend to move the vibrator lever horizontally to the right as viewed in Fig. l. When the vibrator gear shown in Fig. 2 startsto turn in a right hand direction the connector 4| will move to the right and the warp threads'will descend and when they arerin a substantially straight line between the whiproll and the breast beam they will exertlittle or no horizontal strain on the vibrator lever.

As the vibrator gear continues to rotate, however, the connector is moved farther to the right and the warp controlled by the harness I3 is inclined downwardly along the line b. The warp resists this motion and exerts a pull in the lower part of the connection 2 which is transmitted through the jack lever I0, tending to move the vibrator lever to the left as viewed in Fig. 2. It will be seen thereforethat each vibrator lever is acted upon by forces tending to move it horizontally both to the right and left. Since the heel pin fits closely into the open ends of the vibrator levers it has transmitted thereto the horizontal strains of the vibrator levers.

If the pattern is such that half of the warp threads are always in the top shed and the other half in the bottom shed, and the warp is evenly distributed so far as the vibrator levers are concerned, the strains at any one instant imposed upon the heel pin by one half of the vibrator levers tending to move the heel pin to the right will be counter-balanced by the opposite strains exerted bythe other vibrator levers tending to move the heel pin to the left, and under these conditions there will be little or no tendency for the heel pin to bend. Where the pattern calls for an uneven lifting of the warps, however, and a preponderance of the threads are in the top shed,

' for instance, the strains exerted on the heel pin will be unbalanced and the latter will tend to refleet in the direction of the greatest force exerted on it. As a result all of the vibrator levers and vibrator gears will be moved toy an improper position, being displaced horizontally from their correct position. Where the load'is heavy this 5 deflection is sufficient to interfere with the proper operation of the head especially at high speeds where the strains are imposed quicklyV and the deections correspondingly large. The resultant shift of the vibrator levers with respect to the pattern chain and also of the vibrator gears with respect to their driving cylinders contribute to unsatisfactory operation. Furthermore, such deflection is transmitted to certain of the jacks, particularly those near the center of the head and l the shed is not as well dened as it should be and proper flighting of the shuttle.

The matter thus far described is of common construction and of itself forms no part of my present invention, and the conditions discussed in connection with an unbalanced load are those encountered in a Knowles head of the usual construction.

My present invention has for its principal ob- `iect to provide means for stiffening the heel pin so that it will not deflect objectionably even when the load of the warp threads is greatly out of balance. In carrying my invention into effect I provide a heel shell 50 formed of angle iron or steel and having top and side webs 5| and 52, 30-

respectively. The side web may be held to the plates 2| and 22 by screws 53 and the top web may lie between the plates 2| and 22, if desired, although I do not Wish'to be limited to this particular construction of the ends of the angle iron heel shell. 'I'he top web 5| isof Ysubstantial proportions and as shown in Fig. 2 performs the usualfunction of heel; shells, that is, it prevents upward motion o f the vibrator levers relatively to the heel pin. f

In order to establish a connection between the heel pin and the shell I provide a block 6U having a hole 6| therein which fits snugly around the heel pin. This block may have a top surface 62 which lies under and if desired in contact with the bottom 'surface of the top web 5|, and also has a vertical outer surface 63 which lies in contact with the inner surface of the vertical web 52. A screw 64 vpasses through the web 52 and into the block to hold the latter tightlyagainst the shell. .As seen particularly in Fig. 2'it will be understood that the angle iron heel shell, the block and the heel pin are held together in close relationship. The block is preferably located as near the center Vof the head with respect to the Y side plates I2| and 22 as is convenient and any horizontal strains such as those already described which are imposed upon the heel pinl will be transmitted to and resisted by the shell through the block.

From the foregoing it will be seen that .I have provided a very simple means for stiffening the heel pins of a Knowles head and have also provided an improved form of heel shell. The particular means for uniting the shell and pin, asset 65' forth herein, constitutes a block, but inasmuch as I believe I am the rst to connect the shell and pin for the purposes specified, I do not wish to be limited necessarily to a block.

As shown in Fig` 5, `the -vend screws 53 pass through vertical slots l0 in web 52 and Ascrew 64 likewise "passes through slot in the web. The vibrators have top bosses 12 which lie close to the web 5 i as shown in the Unwin patent mentioned. When the pattern mechanism lifts a. vibrator 7l lever the latter pushes upwardly on the top web and the latter' becomes the fixed part around which act the :forces exerted on the lever.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In a head motion for looms, a vibrator lever, a loom part to be moved operatively connected to the lever and tending to move said lever horizontally, a heel lpin to support the vibrator lever, a heel shell extending along Vthe pin, and a conf nection between the shell and pin effective Vto cause the shell to reinforce the pin and assist cause the latter to resist horizontal motion of the vibrator lever.

2. In a head motion for looms, a vibrator lever, a loom part to be moved operatively connected to the lever and tending to move said lever horizontally, a heel pin to support the vibrator lever,

cause the latter to resist horizontal motion of the vibrator lever.

3. In a head motion for looms, a vibrator lever, a loom part to be moved operatively connected to the lever and tending to move said lever horlzontally, a heel pin to support the vibrator lever, a heel shell of angle section having a horizontal web, and a block held to the shell and having the heel pin passing therethrough said block causing the shell to reinforce the pin against horizontal deection.

4. In a head motion for looms, a vibrator lever, a xed frame in which the lever is mounted, a vibrator gear rotatably mounted on the lever, a loom part operatively connected to the gear, a heel pin xed in the frame and on which one end of the lever is supported for pivotal motion, a bearing boss on the lever, a heel shell lying over the boss to limit upward motion of the lever, and a bolt and slot connection betwen the heel shell and frame by which the shell is capable of assuming aplurality of positions at diierent distances from the heel pin to compensate for wear of the boss.`v

" WILLIAM M. WA'ITIE. 

